Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The friendly folks at the MetService have issued yet another Severe Weather Warning, this time for heavy rain in the Tararuas and Wellington area.

Rain is expected to become persistent and heavier on Thursday morning. In the 15 to 18 hours from about 9am Thursday expect 150-200mm on upper slopes and 70 to 100mm lower down including about the hills on the Kapiti Coast and about the Hutt Valley.

There's also a Severe Weather Watch out for a spell of north to northwest gales with gusts around 100 km/h likely in Wellington, and southern Wairarapa from mid/late morning on Thursday until evening.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Just in case you hadn't had enough already, the MetService has issued a Severe Weather Warning for more severe northesterly gales for us, gusting to 120km/hr in exposed places - from 8pm tonight to 3am tomorrow morning.

Mind you, looking out the window over the past two days, I'm rather enjoying this "storm the size of Australia" - it's gorgeous out there today! I do feel sorry for those who aren't in Porirua, however.

The MetService is forcasting more wind for us today - severe northwest gales with gusts up to 120km/h in exposed places this afternoon. Winds that strong can damage powerlines and trees, and make driving conditions dangerous, so take care out there!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Two fronts are expected to cross the North Island today. The first lies at mid morning from Waitomo to the northwest, and is expected to clear the East Cape area this evening. A second front lying over the upper South Island is expected to intensify this afternoon and may organise into a squall line as it crosses the upper North Island late afternoon/early evening to lie east of East Cape by late evening.

There is a high risk of quite squally thunderstorms on both of these features as they cross the west and north of the North Island.

Over the Kapiti Coast to Taranaki, and from Waitomo/Waikato north, and also over northern Coromandel Peninsula, central and eastern Bay of Plenty and far northern Gisborne, some of these thunderstorms may be SEVERE due to thepotential for damaging wind gusts to 130km/hr or so. There is also a risk of a tornado.

Wind gusts of this strength can cause some structural damage, including trees and power lines, and may make driving hazardous. If any tornados occur, they will only affect very localised areas.

Should severe weather approach or if you feel threatened, take shelter immediately.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Residents living in coastal areas of Porirua should be aware that there is a large storm affecting the seas of the western coast (not the interior harbour). Wave heights this weekend may reach between 6 and 8 metres at sea, with significant if not similar wave heights on land around Pukerua Bay and Centennial Highway.

High tide times can be found in the table below.

High

Low

High

Low

High

Thursday 16 Sept

03:24 1.3m

09:22 0.6m

16:01 0.7m

22:13 0.7m

Friday 17 Sept

04:39 1.3m

10:37 0.7m

17:23 1.3m

23:30 0.7m

Saturday 18 Sept

05:36 1.3m

11:53 0.7m

Sunday 19 Sept

00:34 0.6m

07:00 1.3m

12:54 0.6m

19:24 1.4m

If you are concerned, or think that you may be in danger, you should ring 111 and ask for Police, who will coordinate the first response.

Northwesterly winds are expected to rise to gale overnight Thursday with severe gale gusts for a time during Friday. In the period 12 hour period from 6am to 6pm Friday, northwesterly gusts of 120 km/h are likely in exposed places.

Winds of this strength have the potential to lift roofs, topple trees and powerlines and make driving conditions hazardous.

The MetService has issued a Severe Weather Warning for a good chunk of the country - Wellington included.

Northwesterlies are expected to rise to gale overnight, and severe gale about Wellington, Wairarapa & Marlborough Sounds tomorrow morning, with gusts of 120kph. Winds that strong can lift roofs, topple trees and powerlines, and make driving dangerous, especially if you are on a motorbike, or driving a high-sided vehicle.

It'll be raining too, and also likely to be bitterly cold (many places are expecting snow to low levels), so keep an eye on vulnerable farm stock if you have them.

With all the rain we've had lately I'd expect a few slips around the place, so if you come across one that is causing problems, or surface flooding, don't hesitate to ring the council - 04-237-5089 (24hrs)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

A team of three Porirua City Council building inspectors have been dispatched to assist in assessing the many damaged buildings in Canterbury over the next few days. We also have three staff assisting at the National Crisis Management Centre under the Beehive this week.

And our waterworks and drainage team remain on standby to be deployed if required.

Good luck to the guys & gals heading down, I'm sure your skills will be much appreciated - even if your assessments of the buildings possibly won't be liked much by the owners!

What I thought were yet more notifications of aftershocks in Canterbury, were actually notifications of quakes near Wellington! One at 15:48 & one at 16:18. I didn't feel a thing. Don't forget to fill in a Felt Report if you noticed them.

Monday, September 6, 2010

While many of my friends in Christchurch are doing okay, the most common complaint is the nervousness that the aftershocks cause - the constant fear that it's going to be another "big one", and that it's not over yet, and the repeated surges of adrenaline aren't doing wonders for anyone's stress levels.

Mind you, some of them are taking a much lighter approach to the shakes, and playing "let's guess the magnitude".

Local emergency management staff have been assisting at the National Crisis Management Centre under the Beehive, and Porirua City Council has offered the support of drainage and waterworks crews, and building inspectors equipped with some vehicles & equipment, as well as some relief staff for incident management teams, but for now there have been no requests for our aid. We remain ready & willing to help - after all, we may need the favour returned some day.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

In case you'd been too busy keeping up on the current events in Canterbury to notice that it's been awfully windy outside, we have a Severe Weather Warning in place for severe gales in the south of the North Island, and also a heavy rain warning for 150mm of rain for the Tararuas.

Drive carefully - take extra care if you are going over the Rimutakas, they've been getting gusts up to 14okph.

The wind and rain in Canterbury isn't going to help the clean up efforts at all, and heavy rain in the headwaters of the Waimakariri River may cause flooding due to breaches in the stopbanks caused by the recent quake.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

(Latest edit @ 0915 - I'm not going to be near a computer again until tomorrow, so keep up with the latest info on National Radio and the rest of the internet will provide.)

I've just received notification of a magnitude 7.4 (revised to 7.1) quake centred 30km west of Christchurch, and 33km down, and Facebook updates from friends down there are indicating things like power outages (someone is reporting transformers blowing, and power is out in most of rural Canterbury), and broken pipes (including sewer & water mains), cracked swimming pools, things thrown off shelves, toppled furniture, chimneys and walls down, structural damage, and aftershocks keep happening.

Reports that people had self-evacuated from shoreside suburbs in case of tsunami - which is exactly what we tell people to do in a large local quake. Fortunately with the quake being centred on land, it doesn't appear to have generated any - but you don't know that at the time, and you shouldn't wait around to find out.

Some images appearing online of damage to unreinforced masonry & shop facades, and the entire brick side of someone's house, many streets are blocked by debris, and some roads have been damaged by ground spreading, probably due to liquefaction. The airport is currently closed while they check the runways, same for South Island rail until the lines are checked.

Minor injuries are now being reported - I'd guess a good number will be people cutting their feet on broken glass or china as they tried to find a torch in the dark.

Updates to Facebook & Twitter from people's mobile phones are a useful source of information - and a good way of finding that your friends are okay!

http://www.weather.gov/ptwc/text.php?id=pacific.2010.09.03.164512 - The first notification I received was a text forwarding the PTWC tsunami bulletin at about , saying that there was no tsunami threat - didn't feel the quake at all. I only get a text for that if NZ is involved, so I revved up the laptop to find out the story, and the Geonet report came in shortly after.

0710 - Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker giving a textbook perfect interview on National Radio - good factual information & key messages. Was also good to hear the Sting played earlier, followed by official emergency messages.

Major damage to the sewerage network, so people are advised to not flush their toilets, even if they still have water.

Friday, September 3, 2010

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for the Wellington, Wairarapa & Marlborough

Note the short time frame.

Valid until 07:00 pm Friday 03 September 2010

A very squally southerly change is expected to sweep over Wellington, southern Wairarapa and the Marlborough Sounds about 5pm. Winds are forecast to rise to gale and gusts could reach 110km/hr in exposed places with the southerly change before easing duriing the evening.

Wind gusts of this strength can cause some structural damage, including trees and power lines, and may make driving hazardous.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The first day of Spring provided us with absolutely gorgeous weather, and now it all turns to custard again in time for the weekend, with the lovely weather cruelly snatched away by Winter.

We currently have a Severe Weather Watch for northerly gales for this afternoon, and some rain on the way (I can see a rapidly approaching band on the rain radar) and the forecast for tomorrow brings news of a southerly change and possible snow on the Rimutaka Road overnight and the following morning (brrr!), and then a switch back to northerlies rising to gale force norwesters for Sunday, with showers pretty much all the way through.